A welterweight scrap between a pair of highly regarded veterans has made its way to the lineup for the UFC’s May return to Brazil.

Matt Brown (20-13 MMA, 13-7 UFC) will fight in the country for the first time when he meets Brazil’s own Demian Maia (22-6 MMA, 16-6 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 87. UFC officials announced the new booking today.

UFC Fight Night 87 takes place in Brazil on May 14 – though an exact location has not yet been announced by the promotion. Vitor Belfort and Ronaldo Souza, two of the biggest MMA stars in the country, headline the show in a middleweight bout. The main card is expected to air on FOX Sports 1.

Brown was on the cusp of a welterweight title shot after a seven-fight win streak between 2012-2014. Included in that run were six knockouts in seven fights and four post-fight bonus awards. But he dropped a unanimous decision to Robbie Lawler in a title eliminator – and also missed weight for the fight. He followed that up in March 2015 with a decision loss to former champ Johny Hendricks.

But in July 2015, he got back on track with a submission win over Tim Means at UFC 189. That earned him a main event against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Fight Night 80 in Mexico, but an injury forced him from the card. Now he’s ready to get back to work and will fight outside the United States for just the second time in his pro career of more than 10 years.

Maia will be looking to run his winning streak to five fights against Brown. After back-to-back decision losses to Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald, Maia has wins over Alexander Yakolev, Ryan LaFlare, Neil Magny and, most recently, Gunnar Nelson at UFC 194 in December.

The former middleweight title challenger is 7-2 since dropping to welterweight in 2012, and a win over the likes of Brown could have him squarely in the title picture at 170 pounds.

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